Sell a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) business

Owner-operator consumer packaged goods (cpg) businesses trade at 3x–5.5x SDE for typical $500K–$3M SDE ranges. At $3M+ EBITDA scale the same operators sell at 7x–14x EBITDA. Multiples in this category are ebitda-based and data-sourced from Pitchbook CPG Report Q4 2024 + Consumer Growth Report 2025. Where you land in the range is driven by growth trajectory, revenue mix, customer concentration, and management-team depth beyond the owner.

Post Holdings, Utz Brands, TreeHouse Foods, WK Kellogg, and PE platforms (Butterfly Equity, TSG Consumer Partners, L Catterton) drive CPG consolidation. Active buyer archetypes in consumer products include CPG strategic, Consumer PE, Aggregator / brand roll-up. Which of these bids for your business depends on scale — sub-$1M SDE is typically individual or search-fund territory, $1-3M SDE opens up PE platforms and strategics, and $3M+ EBITDA gets full LMM buyer attention.

CPG brands with velocity above $200/store/week in mainstream retail, better-for-you positioning, and diversified channel mix (grocery + club + natural + DTC) trade at premium — the retail velocity is the single strongest predictor of strategic-buyer interest. Beyond the industry-specific factor, the universal drivers in consumer products are omnichannel revenue mix (amazon + dtc + retail); gross margin >45%; cac / ltv ratio evidence of unit-economic durability.

CPG brands face intense retailer margin pressure and slotting-fee reset risk on major line reviews; buyers scrutinize your trade-spend efficiency and retailer relationship depth. Buyers in this category also standardly scrutinize marketplace platform concentration (amazon-only businesses discounted) and return rates and quality issues. Addressing these in advance in a well-prepared CIM materially reduces retrade risk during diligence.

Typical transaction range for consumer packaged goods (cpg) is $2.0M–$100M in annual revenue. Below that, buyer pool narrows to individual and small-search-fund. Above that, PE platforms and strategics dominate. NAICS code 311999 — buyers screen by NAICS in most deal sources.

From the day you engage a broker to close, expect 6–12 months for a well-prepared business in consumer products. The prep work — financial cleanup, addbacks documentation, key-employee retention agreements, real estate lease sorting — is where 3-6 months of the timeline hides. Starting that early is what separates a full-multiple exit from a discounted one.